


I'm Doing Better Than I Ever Was

by electrifiedcas



Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: DickBabs Week 2017, F/M, Gen, I'm Bad At Tagging, My First Work in This Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2019-03-02 02:48:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13308825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/electrifiedcas/pseuds/electrifiedcas
Summary: “Do you trust me?” She asked abruptlyDick replied in a heartbeat, “More than anyone.”





	I'm Doing Better Than I Ever Was

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! A few quick important things before you start reading this! This is my first ever fanfic written for these characters, so I really hope that I did a good job with characterization and they aren't all ooc. If they are feel free to let me know, so I can fix it for any fics written in the future! 
> 
> Also, this is pretty much an AU piece. Kind of my own take on the beginning of the New52 from someone who was too lazy to go find the actual comic and read it again to make sure she had her canon right. But I mean, that's kinda the point of fanfiction so I hope it's alright! 
> 
> There's some brief talk about living with a disability in the first few paragraphs, which is mostly drawn from my own experiences in being chronically ill/disabled. Just thought I should put that out there!
> 
> Anyways, enjoy!

Barbara was back. She had spent years sitting in her wheelchair as Oracle, but now she was back on the rooftops of Gotham as Batgirl. It had been a long road since the fateful day the Joker had shot her. One with a lot of pain, loss, and grieving before she finally found peace with herself. There's no handbook out there for being disabled, you just have to figure it out yourself, and that can take a lot of time. Babs considers herself lucky for having the support system she has, otherwise she may have never figured out her life as Oracle.

Oracle was an amazing job. One that she loved doing and could have been content with for the rest of her life. However, when an opportunity came knocking in the form of an experimental surgery that could give her the use of her legs back, she just couldn't help thinking about all the things she missed.

She missed the feeling of flying through the sky and landing on rooftops, Batman and Robin by her side. She missed the long patrols where nothing exciting happened, and she and Dick would sit looking down at the world below gossiping about school, wishing a cat would get stuck in a tree just so they'd have something to do. As Oracle the missing of things she used to do turned into the missing out on things she wanted to do.

She'd sit and watch the new Batgirl and Robin bicker back and forth among themselves about ice cream flavors as they took out a carjacker. Barbara would laugh to herself as Nightwing cracked a terrible joke, earning a groan from Robin and a suppressed giggle from Batgirl, wishing more than anything she could be there.

So when the opportunity came knocking, she decided she didn't want to miss out anymore.

The surgery worked, thankfully, and Barbara jumped right into physical therapy as fast as she could. Once she could comfortably stand and walk again, she started training.

She was still Oracle, would be for a little bit longer, but whenever she could, she'd practice her technique, trying to catch up on all the years she missed. She never actually told anyone she was training to put on a cape again, but she wasn't surprised when they started to figure it out.

Bruce was probably the first one to notice, but he didn't say anything. He knew from the first time that there wasn't much he could say that would stop her, so he just gave her a look that she read as “Please be careful,” and left her to her own devices. Dick was the first one to say something to her about it. Having noticed that his best friend was spending a lot of time working out again. Not that he minded it, watching as she did squats in a corner of the cave. He was a bit worried, however, that if he was right, and she was going to be Batgirl again, she might push herself a little too much too soon.

“You're going back out onto to the streets, aren't you?” He asked from where he sat in front of a computer.

“I'm considering it.” She replied back, taking a break from her workout to sit next to him.

“You've already made up your mind, haven't you?” Dick smiled at her knowingly.

“I might have.” She laughed a little, clearly happy with the decision she was making. “It'll be fun, once I'm out there. Like old times, right?”

Dick laughed a little in response before voicing his next thought.

“You sure that you're ready for it? I mean it hasn't been that long since your surgery, and I'd hate to see you go out there and get hurt if you rush things and-" He was cut off by Barbara’s sigh.

“Dick,” she started “I swear I wouldn't rush out there if I weren't sure I was one hundred percent ready.”

“I know, I know. I just want to make sure you're okay is all.”

“I'll be okay.” Babs smiled leaning back in her chair, “However, those criminals out there are most certainly not going to be okay once they see that the OG Batgirl is back and at it.”

“That's the spirit, Babs!” Dick laughed leaning over to give her a high five, completely missing the three teenagers running up behind them.

“WAIT.” Stephanie started, zoning in on Barbara. “You're back? Like back, back?”

“You're going to be Batgirl again?” Tim asked excitedly next to her. Cass stood on his other side, looking hopefully at her mentor.

“Yeah, that's the plan.” She smiled at the three, two of which were former Batgirls themselves.

“That's amazing! We've never seen you in action before! I can't wait!” Stephanie jumped up, pulling all of them into a hug.

“Okay, Steph, I can't breathe.” Dick laughed at his siblings from inside the hug, smiling wide at Babs once they were all let go.

\---

Her first night back went well for precisely one hour. She had successfully thwarted a home break-in and a robbery before finding herself in the middle of a jewelry store heist.

Babs gracefully took out the team of robbers, before following one out into a back alleyway. She quickly tied him up and left him for the police to deal with, but not before taking a few punches and a swift kick to the ribs. For all that she missed this job, she didn't miss how much it hurt.

The GCPD officer that ran into the alleyway looked shocked for a second at seeing the redheaded Batgirl standing before him. Babs offered a nod towards him, a rookie officer she recognized from visiting her dad at the station. She gestured towards the tied up criminal gave a quick “For you, boys.” and shot her grappling hook up into the sky, disappearing from view.

 

\---

 

By morning all of the Gotham gossip blogs were ablaze with news of a new Batgirl. Some had pieced together that it could be the original, others thought the blonde one had just dyed her hair, most citizens simply didn't care, for which Babs was grateful. It lessened the chances of somebody discovering their identities.

Barbara had been laying in bed scrolling through her phone when she heard a hard knock on the door. Getting up slowly as to not aggravate her sore spots, she walked over to the door and looked into the peephole before opening it.

On the other side, she saw Dick Grayson. He was rocking back and forth on his heels, holding what appeared to be a bag full of food.

 _"God bless him."_ she thought.

“Hey!” Babs swung the door open, stepping aside so he could come in. “Did you bring food?”

“Good morning to you too.” Dick chuckled, seeing that she was still in her pajamas “I didn't wake you, did I?”

“No, don't worry I was already up.” Babs smiled, leading him to her kitchen. “Want coffee?”

“Yes, please.” Dick sat the bag down on the coffee table and made himself comfortable on the couch until she returned with two steaming mugs.

“So, I heard you had an eventful night” Dick started, digging muffins out of the bag.

“Yeah, and I got the bruises to prove it.” She sighed, holding out her arm which did, in fact, have a large bruise forming on it from when she got thrown into a fire escape in the alley. “We've all had worse though, so can't complain too much.”

Dick seemed to hesitate with whatever he wanted to say next. Babs saw the way his jaw moved when he was thinking.

“What?” She asked

“It's nothing I was just,” He paused, glancing down at his hands before back up at her. “I know I've brought this up before, and I know you said that you were fine, but are you sure you're okay with going out by yourself and doing this again so soon? I know you're more than capable of it, but just, if you get hurt again it could be catastrophic, and I don't want to see that happen.” Dick took a breath, looking at her with concern in his eyes.

“Yes, Dick. I'm sure this is something I'm okay with.” She spoke calmly, taking one of his hands into hers.

“Remember when we were kids, and I became Batgirl for the first time?”

Dick let out a small laugh at the memory, “You mean when you beat me up and then proceeded to yell at Bruce for like, two months straight?”

“Yeah, that's the one.” Babs smiled before continuing, “But back then, the reason I put up such a fight was because I believed more than anything that I could do this. That I could help out Gotham somehow and do something amazing.”

“And that same feeling, that same drive that I had back then, is what I feel right now.”

He paused for a moment, taking in her words.

“I get it, but still. Don't want to see you hurt.”

“You worry too much, Boy Wonder.” She smiled, still holding his hand. They sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments, but Babs could see that he was fidgeting where he sat, apparently with a lot still on his mind.

“Do you trust me?” She asked abruptly

Dick replied in a heartbeat, “More than anyone.”

“Then I need you to let this go, alright? If I believe that I'm going to be okay out there, I need you to believe in it too.”

She looked straight into his eyes, the blue in them seeming to swirl for a moment, almost like he was about to object to what she asked of him.

But he wasn’t lying about what he said. He did trust her more than anyone else he knew. But that level of trust comes with knowing the person extremely well, and Dick knew Babs, knew how stubborn she was, and how much she would push herself even if it meant her getting hurt.

“Okay.” He sighed, looking back at her. “I’ll let it go.”

“Good. Thank you.” She smiled softly back at him, but he wasn’t done.

“You gotta promise me something though, Babs.”

“What?” She raised an eyebrow.

“If things get too difficult you’ll ask for help, so you don’t end up hurt. Please.” The blue in his eyes was now swimming with something else. Now it was a mixture of hurt, and begging, of a man who has seen his best friend beaten down to her very worst one time too many. Even if she didn't like it, she understood his worry.

“I’m not going to get hurt.” She protested, knowing it was a lost cause.

“We both know you can’t be sure of that.” Dick sighed, getting close enough that their foreheads were touching, “Please, Babs, just promise me that if a case or something becomes too much, you'll call me. You helped all of us out for years as Oracle. Let us return the favor now and then.”

Barbara sat, considering this for a second before finally letting out a soft, “Of course.”

She smiled, tilting her head up to give him a quick peck on his forehead.

Dick grinned widely at her before they both turned their attention back to breakfast, going on talking about more random events in their hectic lives.

Babs felt a warmth spread through her as she ate, watching Dick laugh about some silly thing that happened at work. She felt content in this, and briefly thought about how Dick had been there through every big new part of her life, and yet some things like this never change.

 

Barbara was back, and this time was better than ever.

**Author's Note:**

> You can follow me on twitter if you want! I'm @electrifiedcas :) 
> 
> Title comes from Call It What You Want by Taylor Swift.


End file.
